The Phonetic Value of Gardiner's Sign U 23 (𓍋) in Earlier Egyptian

The article examines the reading of the sign 𓍋 in the Old and Middle Kingdom and concludes that the phonetic value must be mr and not mḥr. Four pieces of evidence are used to support this conclusion. The first three come from onomastics and show the interchangeability of 𓍋 with 𓅓𓂋, 𓈘, and 𓌸. The fourth piece of evidence is a prefixed form of the verb 𓍋𓅓𓂋𓅪 from the Pyramid Texts, which proves that the verb consists of two radicals, meaning that it must be mr and not mḥr.